Here we are with a world population estimated at over 8 billion people.1 Our world is filled with an abundance of life. Trees that stand tall, plants that spring forth buds, and the screaming baby birds in the nest, expectant of life-sustaining nourishment.

Earth is filled with beauty, purpose, and life. Look at Mars, Jupiter, or even our moon. Can you find life? Once you leave our amazing atmosphere, you're hard-pressed to find even faint traces of it.

Let me paint you an example of how we can fail to handle life properly. We proclaim that it's healthy to socialize with people, but we can find ourselves using a flawed means of doing that, such as through comments, likes, and shallow text messages. Many of us know that's not the real way to do it.

What are we missing?

Sometimes we don't know what we have until it's gone. What's worse is if it's gone, and we accept that was the right thing to do because we were falsely told so. A lot of people have good intentions, but that doesn't mean they're always right.

Like addiction to our phones draws us away from the reality in front of us, society's dispensing of certain indoctrination causes us to see compassion through a different lens.

Culture from Canada, the United States, and elsewhere has told us that we must allow this flawed solution (called MAID) for people's well-being. It's sort of like our flawed socializing solution - social media.

One sharp point in all of this is that you can't really sugarcoat what those in favor of MAID are suggesting. That people should be allowed to end their lives. That doctors should be allowed to either euthanize patients like dogs, or that they should at least be able to prescribe a lethal overdose so the patient can commit suicide.

Culture's care for life:

Despite the abundance of life bestowed around us (to be good stewards of), we have forsaken the value that it really holds. We have forsaken what being compassionate really looks like.

We call it compassion to allow others to end their lives despite known instances where the system of MAID has failed. The Netherlands, for example, has had hundreds of psychiatric cases.2

We say it's dignity to let someone choose to harm themselves in the name of healthcare. When did it ever become respectable, accepted, and even encouraged to make this weighty decision?

We say it's mercy killing to let a doctor give lethal medication to their patient. If you told an American 100 years ago that today we would have 14 U.S. jurisdictions that permit Medical Aid in Dying, how do you think they would respond? Now tell your grandparent what changed and why it's okay now. That may be a challenging way to look at it, but it's worth considering.

A strong family:

There's a term that dates back to the 1920s called the nuclear family. The nuclear family has (at least in its early description) a man, a woman, and one or more children.

A strong nuclear family is one of the most amazing blessings that humanity has seen.

Let me draw a picture for you about a hypothetical family I'll call the Smiths. When their children were born, they were nurtured from conception to birth, and all through childhood.

As the Smiths' children grew older, the cycle began to repeat itself. Then the children's parents are getting older. This is where we must find ourselves returning the care we first received to those who raised us.

We must honor the lives we are given, and bestow a return of care to those around us. It's not a take-and-take world. We must give, too.

What are our options?

We live in a fallen state; the world is not perfect, and we can't force people to swallow the truth. Some will accept it, some will proclaim it, some will reject it, and others will audibly reject it.

In a culture pushing for access to MAID, and proclaiming the 'compassion' it falsely promises, we must look to a better way. As a Christian, there's only one way I see as perfect. That's Jesus Christ. Some may not agree with me on that, but I believe it to be the truth. He's more real to me than anything else.

We are also blessed to have medicines that are intended to provide comfort for those who are suffering. Palliative and hospice care are both options for people. Sure, they aren't perfect, but the intent is something much different.

To conclude:

If all we care about is promoting choice, then sure, we could add MAID to a bucket of choices. We can call it dignity, compassion, and mercy. But until we know what those words really mean, we might want to take a pause.

Life is a sacred gift that I never want to take for granted. Every day is a gift. There is purpose in pain, there is purpose in suffering, and life doesn't lose value when life changes.

Let's be thankful for the lives around us and treat them with true care. Let's take what we are blessed with and use it to the fullest!